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Monthly Archives: April 2014

Real examples make training lively and convincing. Reciting abstract rules until you are blue in the face won’t make as much of an impact as one relevant example. An Office of Special Counsel press release demonstrates exactly how and why employees violated the Hatch Act, and the consequences:

A civilian Army employee ran in a partisan election despite numerous warnings from both OSC and his agency that doing so was in violation of the Hatch Act. OSC also offered not to seek disciplinary action if the employee withdrew from the election. An OSC investigation further found that he solicited contributions for his campaign, also in violation of the Hatch Act. As a result, the employee served a 180-day unpaid suspension.

A police officer with an Arizona VA medical center ran in a partisan campaign for constable, even though he acknowledged that he knew doing so was a violation of the Hatch Act. As a penalty for this violation, he was suspended without pay for 20 consecutive calendar days.

A civilian employee with the U.S. Navy in Rhode Island sent seven emails directed at the failure of President Obama’s 2012 campaign to fellow federal employees. She sent the partisan emails while on duty and in a federal workplace even though her agency had previously notified her that doing so was a violation of the Hatch Act. She was suspended for five days without pay.

A contracting officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sent a highly partisan email to dozens of people. She sent this email, which urged everyone to vote Democrat in the upcoming election, while on duty and in the federal workplace. She acknowledged that she should have known about the Hatch Act and that sending the email was a violation of it. As a penalty, she was suspended without pay for one day.

The IEG will offer a semi-annual instructor development program for experienced agency ethics officials. Successful completion of the program will qualify attendees to teach IEG-created courses to Executive Branch ethics officials for IEG credit. Applicants may select among several available courses, including: the New Ethics Official Certificate Program; Introduction to Conflicts of Interest; Public Financial Disclosure Review; Gifts from Outside Sources; and Conflict-Free Post-Employment Activities.

Successful applicants must commit to attending all required sessions for each course selected, must have significant substantive ethics experience, and considerable demand for ethics official training within their agencies. Details about the IEG instructor development program and application information can be found on the IEG MAX site.

Character is a concept that can be difficult to understand, but leading business executive J. Phillip “Jack” London says it’s the most important trait for leaders of organizations. “Good leaders aim to do the right thing,” London says in his book, Character: The Ultimate Success Factor. “They respect and trust the people they lead, empowering them to achieve their best.”

In his book, London says character is “a complex aggregate of mental and ethical traits that form the nature of a person” and the most important indicator of an individual’s success. He says people with strong character also tend to be fulfilled in their life.

OGE has put a tiptoe to test the social media waters. OGE’s Twitter feed isn’t as exciting as one from, let’s say, Miley Cyrus, but is that a bad thing? If you work in the ethics field, it’s worth adding to your feed list.